'The View's' Joy Behar tries to get Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom to blast Trump — but he hits back with only praise for the president

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) appeared on "The View" Friday, where he sang President Donald Trump's praises over the COVID-19 outbreak.

What are the details?

During an exchange about coronavirus in the U.S., co-host Joy Behar asked if Newsom was sucking up to President Trump in order to avoid retribution.

Newsom, however, lauded the president's efforts as "proactive" and refused to say anything negative about him.

"Governor, it's no secret that you've had a combative relationship with Trump in the past, but lately, you've been praising him for the help he's giving," Behar said. "Of course, you have to, because look at how he treats governors who don't kiss the ring. The governor of Washington, the governor of Michigan, he said they were not appreciative and told Mike Pence, 'Don't call them back.' Do you feel like you have to feed this guy's ego to get the respirators, to get the PPEs? Is that what's going on?"

Newsom admitted that he's had issues with the president in the past and has had differences of opinion as well.

"Let me just acknowledge the frame of your question," he responded. "We're involved in over 68 lawsuits with the Trump administration, and so there's no question we have had our differences of opinion on many issues, but I just want to remind you that you and many others that maybe are not aware of this.

"We have been at this since late January. California got a head start in many respects, where no one was really paying much attention. We started working with the administration directly to get these repatriated flights from mainland China into the state of California. Many states turned their back on those flights and those repatriation missions. California embraced them," he continued.

"We also had that Grand Princess, that large cruise ship, where we worked very collaboratively with the federal government and developed strong relationships of trust with emergency planning and how we can bring those passengers back into our diverse communities and all across the rest of the country," he added.

"As a consequence of that, our relationship began earlier than most. And so from that perspective, all I can say is that, from my perspective, the relationship has been strong," Newsom noted. "I'm not doing it to kiss the ring — I'm not doing it in a way, you know, I'm just being forthright with the president. He returns calls, he reaches out, he's been proactive."

Newsom concluded, "We got that Mercy ship down here in Los Angeles. That was directly because he sent it down here. Two thousand medical units came to the state of California, these FMS, these field medical stations. That's been very, very helpful, and to the extent, we're going to need more, and I'll let you know in a few weeks if that relationship continues."